North Korea Trashes Their Nuclear Testing Site
North Korea reported today that they had destroyed their nuclear testing site just three weeks before the scheduled meetup between Kim Jong-un and Trump.
The North Korean government invited journalists from China, Britain, South Korea, the US, and Russia, to watch them dismantle the nuclear testing site and close in the tunnels in the Punggye-Ri area.
The North Korean government did all six nuclear weapons’ tests at this location. The news comes just a couple of days after Trump backed away from his previous demand for Kim Jong-un to dismantle his nuclear arsenal without any kind of economic incentive or exchange.
According to reports, the government invited 24 journalists from the countries listed above and they stood by and watched N. Korean officials blow up the tunnels, the barracks, and the metal foundry. They filmed it too.
It Was Symbolic
Kim Jong’s action was mostly symbolic, of course, because there’s nothing stopping him from rebuilding another site. Literally, as soon as all of the journalists leave the country, the North Korean government could start building another one.
It’s a fact that most “analysists” understand. However, like it was mentioned before, the act was symbolic, if anything.
It means Kim Jong-un and his government are willing to cooperate for the sake of revitalizing their economy and relaxing old tensions.
Kim Jong-un is scheduled to meet with Donald Trump on the 12th of June. And ahead of the talks, Donald referred to Kim’s decision to blow up the site as a “very smart” and “gracious” move.
Last month, Kim Jong-un said he wanted to possibly dismantle his nuclear arms site for the sake of security, economic incentives, and lifted sanctions.
However, after Kim Jong-un heard that Trump asked for the “unilateral nuclear abandonment,” he freaked out and pulled out of the talk. Either way, it looks like things are getting better between South Korea, N. Korea, and the United States.
This Has Happened Once Before
This isn’t the first time that North Korea has done such a thing though. Back in 2008, they invited journalists to watch them blow up the cooling tower of their nuclear reactor. But after a few botched deals and failed negotiations, they started it up again just a couple of years later.
As a side note: for the last ten years, the media has described Kim Jong-un and his father as “crazy” dictators. But sometimes people forget that it’s just human nature to describe the enemy as “crazy” and “irrational.”
It’s easy to think of the enemy as sub-human when they’re on the other side of the world and you can’t look them in their eye.
When Trump meets up with Kim Jong-un on the 12th, as long as they can talk face-to-face, things will go alright.